


show-off

by positivelyglowing



Series: Spideychelle One-Shots, Prompts, and Requests [1]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Awkward Crush, F/M, Fluff, Mild Language, Peter Parker is a Mess, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 18:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18899896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/positivelyglowing/pseuds/positivelyglowing
Summary: It’s not as if he needs his ego stroked; honestly, that's the least of his priorities. But… he has this crazy, overwhelming desire for MJ’s seal of approval; hell, just a nod, a smile, or even a thumbs up would do. Some acknowledgement, at least.He, for some inexplicable reason, wants so badly to just impress her.





	show-off

**Author's Note:**

> Hey here I am posting something on here that's not "Misconceptions"! ope
> 
> This is from a tumblr prompt that I got forever ago:
> 
> "Cute fluffy prompt: mj acts like she’s not impressed with the whole Spider-Man thing so peter keeps making excuses to show off his powers/strength in front of her"
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

Peter shouldn’t be all that surprised that upon finding out his secret identity as the vigilante known as Spider-Man, Michelle reacts in perhaps the most Michelle-way possible. 

She’s indifferent. 

Not entirely impressed. 

Maybe even a bit annoyed?

Now, it wasn’t as if he’d expected her to just… fawn over him, to sing his praises in her overt adoration of his deeds. He knew it wasn’t like that;  _ MJ  _ wasn’t like that. But... she could’ve at least faked some enthusiasm. A simple, “Wow! That’s cool!” would’ve been much appreciated. 

She could have at least tried to reach Ned’s enthusiasm.

Because Peter has literal,  _ actual _ superpowers for crying out loud.

He can climb walls.

He fights  _ crime. _

But nope.

Nothing. 

Just the quirk of an eyebrow accompanied by a comically apathetic, “Yeah. And?”

Because of  _ course _ she already knew.

The double take he’d done at her response may or may not have given him a minor case of whiplash. He’d sputtered, face turning an embarrassing shade of beet red as he scrambled to form coherent, human sentences—something that had become somewhat of a theme in his conversations with MJ.

It’s not as if he needs his ego stroked; honestly, that is the least of his priorities. But… he has this crazy, overwhelming desire for MJ’s seal of approval; hell, just a nod, a smile, or even a thumbs up would do. Some acknowledgement, at least. 

He, for some inexplicable reason, wants so badly to just  _ impress _ her. 

And he finds himself caring a lot more about whether or not she’s impressed the more and more he tries. 

She doesn’t care when he shows her his lightning fast reflexes; he’s lost count of how many times he’s asked her to throw something at him so he can show off that particular skill. 

_ “Hey, MJ, toss me the remote?” _

_ “Hey, MJ, pass me that can of sprite!” _

_ “Hey, MJ, literally just throw my calc book at me.” _

(He also wonders if he should be worried that she’s always willing to chuck something at his face every time he asks, without hesitation.)

She couldn’t care less when he hangs from the ceiling by a  _ single thread _ —okay, it’s maybe more than that, but still—when they’re studying in her room one day, his face scrunched in concentration as he reads  _ Great Expectations  _ from his position. 

He can feel her eyes on him, stare calculating as she watches him with a mix of judgement and confusion. An expression that wordlessly asks, _ “What the absolute fuck are you doing?” _

“What?” As innocent as he can act in a situation like this, Peter shrugs, feigning ignorance. “It’s more comfortable.”

She scoffs.

She’s even more unimpressed, maybe even borderline annoyed, when he shows off just how agile he is by literally backflipping onto the couch during a movie night with her and Ned like he’s some kind of Olympic gymnast. 

Peter’s smile is triumphant as he lands, feeling pretty damn good about himself, eyes not-so-subtly glancing over to MJ, trying to gauge her reaction. 

“Was that necessary?” she asks, tilting her head in miffed bewilderment. 

Okay, maybe she had a point.

Even Ned, who was arguably Spider-Man’s number one fan, seems to think the overt display of gymnastics is a  _ bit  _ much. 

And that’s saying something. 

Peter’s strength doesn’t really do much for her either, or at least he’s pretty sure it doesn’t. He can lift around ten tons,—but who’s counting, really?— stop a bus with his  _ bare _ hands. He’s stopped the Winter Soldier’s actual metal arm before. 

Come on, even the person with the highest standards in the world would think that was at least a little bit cool.

There may have been a hint of a smile, a faint sense of admiration and approval when he lifts up the school lockers with incredible ease, snatching the spare jar of web fluid, making sure to twirl it a couple of times for good measure.

“Wow,” she says, almost breathlessly, with a hint of… What is that?... Wonder? Reverence?

“Way to damage school property, Spidey.”

And like that, he deflates.

He brings out the big guns when he offers her a ride—or, a swing, if you will—when she’s running late to her after school job at one of the local bookstores. She agrees, but only after nearly rolling her eyes out of her head. 

To this day, he can still feel the way the butterflies had nearly erupted in his stomach as she’d wrapped her arms around his neck, her body pressed against his as he’d gripped her waist, holding her steady; the way her breath had hitched in her throat as he leapt into the air, the way she’d buried her face in the crook of his neck, the ghost-like touch of her lips less than an inch from his jaw.

He can also still hear the way she’d screamed bloody murder right in his ear the entire swing.

He was pretty sure she might have puked all over him and his suit if it had lasted even a second longer. 

Needless to say, Michelle was not impressed.

Not in the slightest.

Really, at this point, Peter begins to think that there was truly no way to please her. 

And, slowly but surely, he gets to where he can kind of, sort of accept it. 

He’s pretty sure he’ll never get over this whole desire to impress her, but for the time being, maybe he can chill a bit with the showing off. 

After all, she’d said it better than he could have. 

_ “Okay, now you’re just embarrassing yourself.” _

He nods in silent, albeit a little sheepish, agreement, hands on his hips as he turns his gaze to the ground. 

He’d just made one more, one more valiant effort in his quest to get MJ to admit that this whole Spider-Man thing was cool. 

Actually offering to take her on patrol with him may have been a mistake. 

This sunny Saturday afternoon must have been the day all the criminals in New York decided to take a day off. 

And, yeah, it may not have been a good idea in hindsight, with the danger and all that. But give him a break, they were already hanging out… They just happened to change location and he just happened to be wearing his suit. 

No big deal. 

Plus, he would have never let anything happen to her. 

And even with all of that, she’d laughed,  _ actually laughed _ , and declined, returning to her book as she sat on the park bench.

He knows it’s a fruitless effort, but damn it, he had to give it one last shot. 

They’re interrupted when they hear the nearby wailing cry for help of a little girl, and in an instant, Peter’s gone.

As it turns out, the girl’s in no danger at all, but rather, her white kitten—whose name turns out to be Buttons—having got himself caught pretty high up in a tree. 

Peter’s heartstrings tug at the way the little girl’s cries fill the air around him. He takes a moment to comfort her, telling her that everything—that Buttons is going to be okay; that he’ll be down before she knows it. 

The girl sniffles, wiping at her eyes as she watches Spider-Man climb the tree—slowly, as not to startle the already skittish animal. 

It takes minimal effort on his part, getting the frightened kitten down from the tree, but he still treats this as any other deed done as his heroic alter-ego; he handles the small bundle of fluffy white fur carefully as he returns to the ground. 

And once again, he’s filled with the same warm, happy feeling he gets when he’s helped someone as the girl hugs the small cat in her arms, her smile practically glowing. 

“Thank you, Spider-Man!” 

He returns to MJ a moment later, who’s been watching the entire time. 

Her face is impassive as he stands in front of her, book forgotten in her lap as she fixes him with a contemplative stare. 

He already knows what she’s going to say, how she’s going to react. He’s not set up for disappointment that way. 

He can practically hear the words already before she even speaks. 

“Nice job, loser.”

Wait. Not those words—

What?

His head snaps up, the white eyes of his suit widening comically as he stares back at her, dumbfounded. “What did you say?”

At that, her lips press together into a thin, very very cute, smile. From what he could tell, there hadn’t been any hint of sarcasm in her tone. Her gaze now makes him feel comfortably uncomfortably warm under all the red and blue spandex. 

Okay, he’s probably dreaming. 

“I said,” she pauses. “Nice job, loser.”

“Oh,” is all he can muster at first, his voice a little breathless. He coughs, scratching the back of his head, trying to play it cool. “Thanks.”

She nods before quietly returning to her book. “Anytime, dude.”

He’d done it. He’d finally done it. All these days, these weeks, all this time. 

And damn it, Peter can’t help but do his best golf fist bump when he’s sure MJ can’t see him, exclaiming a whispered, “yes!” under his breath. 

“Please, don’t make me take it back,” she says without even glancing up from her page. 

“Ah! Okay, sorry, sorry.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'll maybe be posting my other one-shots that I've written over the next few weeks, so look out for those!! 
> 
> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @spiderman-homecomeme and on twitter @smhomecomeme for life updates and memes if u want <3


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